Top 10 Board Games for Every Occasion

Any list of top 10 board games is going to be controversial! But we’re doing our best to be impartial. Please note that if a game is on the Best Board Games Award Winners list of Spiel Des Jahres winners, then it’s probably more than worthy of your attention, too.


Top-Rated Board Games: How To Choose?

It’s really hard to define any top ten board games list, because taste is subjective.

Cluedo board game 1948!

Cluedo 1948

Part of the problem is, some people love a game because it reminds them of important memories during a formative part of their lives. Nobody else knows that you played Cluedo with Marcus and Douglas, while they endlessly played Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads in the background, and that’s the only reason the game is in your personal list of best board games ever!

In no particular order, here’s the Boardgame Beast’s list of top 10 board games!

CLUE (Cluedo)

See the story about Marcus and Douglas, above. I made an early accusation, just to get knocked out of the game! I like Talking Heads a lot more now though. By the way, north America, everybody else calls this game by its original name of Cluedo.

Settlers of Catan

Introduced to this game by our now erstwhile friends Adele and Ulrich, but their legacy is Settlers, and what a legacy! I still have yet to play any of the expansions, and that’s a shame, as I’m sure I’m missing a lot.

Carcassonne

Fancy a night on the tiles? This is a true modern classic, a worthy winner of Spiel Des Jahres, and was introduced to us by my brother, Stephen, and Ulli, his wife. We have since played it with several people who did not hesitate to buy it afterwards, and so the ideavirus that is the Carcassonne game continues to spread.

Monopoly

Purists will sneer at seeing this game on our list of all time favorites, but you can’t deny that the Monopoly game, if played with passion, is a great. There is something fascinating about a game that has spawned thousands of versions (though to date we only know of one person, Marcus, again!) who is trying to collect as many versions as possible. At one stage, The Beast used to “practice” by playing on his own with multiple tokens, but only if no friends were available to play with.

Puerto Rico

The closest we’ve come to playing a strategy video game on a board, Puerto Rico is a really amazing achievement. Multiple ways to win, rewarding clear strategic thinking. Superb.

Risk

Wednesday
nights in Hertfordshire with Uncle Chris, sometimes Paul, and always
Ina, sometimes Zaiga, and the Australasia-obsessed Larisa. Latterly with
Lewis. Blood feuds with Daniel the flood-bringer. Risk
board game
will always be associated for me with passive dope
smoking, endless snacking on Bassett’s Licorice Allsorts, and
terribly presented apple pies when Zaiga did a run to KFC.

Bohnanza

This game is about time with Douglas. There are so many great moments of gaming with Doug, many of them relating to video games such as Might and Magic II, and even Dungeons and Dragons sessions back in the pre-University days. But in later years, it has been gaming sessions on such greats as the Bohnanza game, Kingsburg, Agricola, and many others that have stood out and defined our sadly all too rare days together. He lives in Japan and I live in Canada, and rarely the twain shall meet.

Scrabble

This is undoubtedly the world’s best word game. It is hugely addictive, never the same twice, is great for your word power, and it feels SO GOOD to win in style with a BINGO or three! Most memorable games were played with Lila and Robin in London and Montreal, but this has been on my most loved list for decades now.

Blood Bowl

During the 1980s, American Football was all the rage in the UK, and Games Workshop created BloodBowl to cash in. It was quite a game, being a fantasy RPG games themed version of gridiron, and for me and my friends Rupert and Marcus, the fun was more from painting the figures (badly) than actually playing the game. People get very serious about Blood Bowl, but I was not one of them. It is, like Warhammer, which I did play a lot, a question of getting out what you put in.

The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game

Six races, jumps, action cards, loads of cash to gamble… What’s not to like about this funny game? It is, as the name suggests, really nasty, but if you like a flutter, and enjoy watching old friends fall out over a meaningless board game, then this is the one for you. Superb!

What’s YOUR Top 10 Board Games?

Apologies if you disagree with our selections! Why not rate the games on our lists? If your best board games ever are not listed here, send us board game reviews.

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